I started playing Alone in the dark for 360 today around 8 pm...I stopped playing around 12am. And here I am to give you some feedback on the game...
In the 4 hours I've played it, I can honestly say that the game has earned a full recomendation from me to anyone looking for a good survival horror game that features some incredibly thrilling moments and has some really original gameplay ides.
Things I've liked:
- The game introduces and expands on a lot of ideas other games have established.
-Inventory system has endless posibilities (lighter fluid + bullets = fire bullets...Kickass!)
- Puzzles and static camera angles in situations give me the feel of Resident evil 1,2 and 3...which are some of my favourite games of all time.
-It merges presentation, story and gameplay extremely well.
-Jaw-dropping scenes showing buildings falling apart in manhatan and a car chase scene that has to be seen to be believed.
- Ability to go first person and third person at any time. First person works for combat, 3rd person works for puzzles.
- "Last time in alone in the dark!"...play the game and load a save, you'll know what I mean.
- Some pretty scary moments
- Continuing after dying...you continue right where you left off. No need to worry about checkpoints or saves.
Things I've disliked:
- Hand to hand combat sucks (you fight using the second analog stick and target on enemy using the left trigger)
- Health System...no health bar or anything that idicates how injured you are...you just die when hit too many times.
- Controls feels klunky in 3rd person mode...but first person feels good.
- Gameplay doesn't pause when you're going through your inventory system (its realisic but very fristrating when your flashlight runs out while being attacked in dark central park and you cant open inventory and mix batteries and flashlight without being attacked)
The great success of this game in my mind is how well it merges presentation and gameplay. Take metal gear solid 4...you will play the game, then the game will stop to show you something cool in a cutscene (like the Vamp vs Raiden fight)...then you'd continue playing and it would not look or play nearly as cool when gameplay continued.
In this game, cool shit is happening while you're playing and in control.
For example, on the beginning there is a scene where you're hanging form the ledge with the camera looking at you from the bottom while blocks of the building are starting to fall on you. As you dodge them (you have to move to dodge them), the camera spins around and shows you from the top angle instead and you see building blocks falling down and hitting a truck filled with gasoline. The truck explodes and launches several cars in the air which you have to dodge as well...
While I've not finished this game (far from it), I can say that this is a must buy for anyone that likes survival horror. Especially the people who liked Resident evil 1 2 and 3 on playstation 1 and wish those games would be brought to current consoles with better production.
I wouldn't give this game a AAA rating as there are some problems that are evident from the get go but survival horror fans are better off playing a game that is rated 8/10 and is survival horror than playing an RPG rated 10/10.
